Bhavna

Sakurako is a miracle woman!

You might call this a cliche drama- showing that there is something more important than money and that is love. Well it’s true. And there are many things about Yamato Nadeshiko that is refreshing and new. First of all, it’s the heroine Sakurako who’s obsession with finding a rich man and richer man borders on sociopathy when it comes to her behaviors in “relationships.” She really doesn’t get into any real relationships, but more like arrangements with rich men who just fall for her based on her looks and don’t see or want anything deeper than that. Because love is not part of the equation, she has no moral issues with jumping from one arrangement to another, like trying to find a better deal at a store, or more brand name person. She reduces people down to rich or poor, and this harsh judgment is a reflection of how she sees and judges herself. She grew up poor and thinks that is the reason for all her misery. So there’s a wounded inner child that mistakenly seeks out this one thing- money- in order to feel worthy on the inside. Sakurako doesn’t seem to even have an inner life as she just acts through a painted mask that smiles just like an air hostess (literally her job in the movie), so she initially has no awareness of this hurting inner child. She acts like a programmed robot, and I have known people like this in my own life (my own sister) who act like money, brand names, and status is the true measure of a person’s worth. It’s terribly sad to see, but the mask starts to crack as she keeps bumping into Oasuke, the poor man who she initially mistakenly thought was rich, and whom she hates for most of the movie. But instead of just glossing over things and saying “They’re in love,” the series touches on what made Sakurako in an money hungry cartoon character, going to one mixer after another, on the prowl for a richer man.

Sakurako’s obsessive pursuit of wealth isn’t about greed—it’s about survival. It’s the strategy of a deeply wounded inner child who was told, directly or indirectly, “You are ugly. You are poor. You are not worthy.” So she builds a mask to counter that narrative. And the tragedy, is that the mask becomes her identity. She doesn’t even know she’s wearing it anymore. She thinks she is the smile, the brand, the perfect image. It’s interesting to see the mask she puts on when she feels the pain of rejection, and uses this impressive beautiful mask throughout her “dating life” (if you want to call that kind of manipulation dating) as a kind of armor and shield. It’s not explicitly explained through the series- the wounded and vulnerable inner child vs her fake mask and how even the rich fiancé she got to become infatuated with her mask never knew the real her, the vulnerable true self that she hides from the world. It seems like only Oasuke has been able to touch that part of her, the vulnerable inner child that is wounded. I wish they had gone deeper into that and about her emotional healing and maturing process that happens in this relationship with Oasuke. That would have made the series much better in my opinion. It just glossed over that part, but that is crucial in giving the heroine a reason to change- because someone who is that manipulative and narcissistic in relationships to the point where she continues going to mixers to find a richer man even while engaged, and right up to the wedding, such a person would need an enormous reason to change. A true breakdown in their life where all of that illusion falls apart. And to be honest, such a person normally doesn’t change. It just so happened that this woman was a manipulator with a wounded inner child and a heart of gold so she ended up going for the “genuine poor man” in the end, acknowledging that any motives for dating the rich fiancé were false and the foundation was built wrong so there’s no hope in continuing that. But in this world, such people would continue manipulating and destroying people’s lives. So caution to viewers here- this isn’t exactly realistic. My sister hasn’t changed one bit in the decades I’ve known her, and unless a catastrophe happens that dramatically brings down the illusions she follows, her “rich people are better” programming will stay with her till the end. That is the sad truth. Someone like this doesn’t just change because of a nice man. A whole identity collapse has to happen. The ego’s scaffolding has to crumble. There has to be despair, not just discomfort. There has to be a total breakdown before a breakthrough is even possible. And in real life, most don’t reach that point. But I’m glad to see even one example, even if it’s on a show of a person who can change so dramatically like Sakurako. If God wills it, then it may happen.

One thing I didn’t like about the series (and many other J dramas) is that the characters don’t say what they came to say when they meet each other. Instead, they fly halfway across the world, put in so much effort, and then at one sign of doubt, they say “Ok goodbye then!” Without saying what they want to say. Is that pride? Is it fear? It’s so annoying! Sakurako flies all the way from Japan to NYC to meet Oasuke in the end, and says to him that she wants to be with him, and Oasuke’s like “I’m confused right now…” so she puts on her mask and is like, “Ok… goodbye then…” Like wtf? You just flew all that way and packed your suitcase and your whole life just for him and now you say goodbye and toss the conversation into the garbage so easily? Do these people not know how to communicate at all? It’s so frustrating to watch. And then I wonder at the end when they’re married, why Sakurako is not working- she could still be a flight attendant, why does she need to end her professional life that she was so good at just to be with him? It’s like now her whole existence revolves around Oasuke (after living such a different life before.. is that even possible unless you had a lobotomy?) and she’s not working. Wouldn’t her default mode go back to going to mixers since that’s what she’s been doing since forever? How does that programming collapse completely I ask? Or maybe the love with Oasuke is so powerful that it collapsed all that? I don’t know, I kind of don’t buy it, but if Sakurako was such a go getter, why not work to support herself and her husband so she can buy all her Fendi stuff? As for Sakurako dropping her job and changing her life instantly—that part strains credibility for me. Unless… something profound happened. Something offscreen. A total shift in identity, not just behavior. That’s where a slower burn romance can help and some of the newer J dramas do this better. And even then, the conditioning doesn’t vanish. You don’t change overnight. The old conditioning has to be faced, again and again. The desire to put the mask back on doesn’t just disappear. But now there’s something else present: awareness. I cannot imagine someone like Sakurako the way she’s been existing since childhood till now could pull a 180 like that and just live normally with Oasuke. Nobody even knows who she really is. She’s been fake since she was a child so how can she just switch to “being real?” Even she doesn’t know who that is. So I don’t buy that part at all. And even till close to the end, she’s still attending mixers, which shows that she’s still going back to old habits. Unless landing in a new country, she completely has to abandon her old self and live like a totally new person…

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A Most Beautiful Love Story of Loss

I just finished watching Beyond Goodbye or Sayonara no Tsuzuki and I was in a puddle of tears by the end. The thing is, what made me cry is not just that people die, but the depth, love, beauty, and sacredness that this J drama brought into the topic- it’s like something about it touches me so deeply that it brings me to tears. In the very first episode, when Yusuke was playing “I Want You Back” on the piano, and that scene repeats in variations two more times in the same setting, it touched me and I could feel the tears even in the first episode. I can’t explain it or why. And then as the series went on, Naruse, talking about how his own heart had reached its limit and so Yusuke’s boundless love and joy came into him to breathe new life into him, and how he was opened by it and it felt like the divine love of Spirit is just pouring through him and the whole series. What seemed at first as a love that was contained only in Yusuke, in the end was released from all forms and showed up everywhere. That’s what was so beautiful- it showed that forms are impermanent, but the love can melt anyone’s heart and dissolve conflicts and divisions, even if they’re not supposed to get along according to the world. I loved how emotionally honest and open the characters were in this J Drama compared to others that I’ve seen, and they expressed what was on their heart instead of holding everything in and that certainly helped to move the story along. The bond explored between Naruse and Saeko was truly something beyond words, beyond labels. It wasn’t “an affair,” in the classic sense although it could have turned into that. Neither party was looking for that, as noble as they were, and yet the love of Spirit brought them together in beautiful moments, to feel the divine love of God that wants nothing more than to see you happy and smiling, and never sad. That whole piano song of Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back”, was the premise- it was the vehicle to deliver this message from Spirit to lift one up- the world is not so heavy and low, so smile. The whole series, the whole point of Yusuke’s existence as the symbol of love was to see that smile on Saeko’s face, and to wash away the tears of her sorrows. And this is the hidden message of the whole drama- to allow Spirit to wash away the grief of our sorrows and to bring the smile of God to our face, knowing that we are loved. “You are loved.” No matter what the loss, and how big the loss, even in the midst of it, in the heaviness of grief, “You are loved no matter what.” This is what the series points to. And love is bigger than all the people and forms in this world- it can appear as a rainbow, or berries on a plant, or a new life in someone’s womb. If you keep your heart open, even in the grief of loss, the Spirit will show you love and heal you from the inside out. That’s what this series did for me. It had a profound healing effect when I was going through my own losses and I allowed my heart to be opened up by this story.

The rewatch value of this series is high- the first 5 or so episodes are amazing. But at some point, it starts to drag a little, and the low point was when Saeko encounters a bear and ends up on the news … like why? That was so unnecessary. They could have cut that whole part out. But I’ll be forgiving and still say it’s one of the best J Dramas I’ve ever watched (I feel this way after watching each one, that every Japanese drama is even better than the last!).

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Decent

I watched this a while ago, but I forgot to write a review on it for some reason. It was one of the earlier J dramas that I’ve watched. I thought the female lead was a little bit naïve for running a company and a little spaced out and innocent, and for some reason she keeps following the male lead for everything and can’t seem to think for herself. She’s not a very strong character. The male lead is a little bit annoying, and I don’t find him to be that good looking or charming. But he seems to think that he’s all that. I actually liked the second male love interest, and I thought he was more attractive than the male lead. But as we know the second love interest never gets the girl. At least not in J dramas. No matter how hard they try, or how kind they are, or how much they helped the female lead, apparently it all boils down to chemistry. I thought the female leads superpower was pretty cool, and I would love to have that for myself. I would use it a lot more boldly.

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Incredible story and satisfying ending

Just finished watching Marry My Husband Japan, and it was an incredible story. Takeru Satoh (as Suzuki Wataru) is incredible. I love his soft, protecting, loving energy throughout the series. He is a male lead with true integrity and remains faithful in his love and will to protect Misa. I love how the old timelines of evil, manipulation, sacrifice, and ego winning was flipped into the new timeline of innocence, love, and sacredness protected. Sometimes Misa’s naive behavior was annoying as she would walk into the lion’s den completely unarmed and inviting trouble and danger to follow her. That’s where Wataru’s protection was sorely needed.

The characters were believable and I have experienced people like Reina, and Tomoya, although I have not met a Director Suzuki Wataru before. I would love to meet him. As for Misa, I can personally relate to her- being the scapegoat and victim of being the sacrificial lamb. I was very happy for her when she was able to make friends with Miko (Suzuki’s younger sister), Tanabe (her high school crush), and Samiyoshi (her direct manager). The five of them in the new timeline really built up a solid friendship together and it made me happy that Misa was able to find people who cared about her and protected her. Something that really touched me about Misa and Wataru’s university life was how they described it as “a lonely school life.” I can relate to that too. Misa said how she never made any friends in university and Wataru had the same experience. Well I too had the same experience. The lone, inward life, introspection. With the innocent baby turtle Kamekichi as Misa’s only friend, and the silent protection of Wataru watching over her. Even though it would have been painful and lonely back then, the silent introspective life created a kind of sacredness in the atmosphere, even when they revisited it again. I know the feeling. It all paid off in the end. I loved how the series sprinkled in many moments of intimacy, a beautiful relationship, forming between Misa and Wataru instead of just clumsily plopping them together at the end. It made absolute sense that they would end up together, and it was only natural considering that their relationship had been blossoming since the beginning of the new timeline. Their relationship was truly golden, and I would’ve been heartbroken if anything had come to sabotage it in the end. But it was as if the spirits of their own parents bless the connection and allowed it to move forward into a fruitful and beautiful new beginning while saying, farewell to the horrors of the past..

Reina was truly twisted and evil and it just shows that some people when they are traumatized, they can end up being the worst evil on the planet. Instead of seeking healing through introspection, they seek revenge and Reina just callously murders and attempts to kill off anyone in her way. She didn’t really truly know what she wanted because all she seemed to pursue was what Misa had and she didn’t really know what she herself wanted out of life, except to destroy the happiness of others. Such people exist- with a kind of pathological envy for the innocent and sacred ones, and a desire to steal what they have. It was truly sad how the ego causes devastation and misery and suffering all around it- to make sure that everyone else is just as miserable as they are. So I am glad that those characters were eliminated in the new timeline. Thank God that true love was given a chance to survive and blossom in the end. As Wataru said, new life and greenery will bloom in the desert.

I have no interest in the Korean version because for some reason the K drama remakes or originals are usually such poor quality compared to the Japanese versions- I find them to be tacky and missing the reverent and sacred quality that I see in the J dramas. I have even tried to watch a remake or original K drama version after finishing the Japanese one and they are always so bad that I have to stop after a few minutes. If J dramas are a Michelin star restaurant, K dramas would be Arby’s.

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Unhealthy Obsession with marriage, family, relationships

Though I have normally enjoyed J dramas, something about this one didn’t sit right with me. I think it was rather poorly done. I get it that traditional societies value marriage and family etc, but seriously this series borders on obsession with marriage and finding a relationship that feels almost suffocating. It’s just obsessive and not healthy. Every conversation is about marriage and how can I get more married and get into a better relationship? It tends to define one’s self worth based on one’s ability to get married. It just made me sick to be honest. I didn’t like this series at all, but watched until the end out of obligation.

Pros:
- Scenery is nice and beautiful
- I like the yoga angle- as a yoga teacher, I liked that she brought in philosophies of self care into her classes. However, the yoga she teaches it highly westernized “white people yoga” which is divorced from real yoga.
- Shots and cinematography are nice and clean just like any Japanese series- beautiful colors
- Hayate was cool

Cons:
- The male and female lead have no chemistry and are generally unlikeable (actually I find most of the characters in this series to be rather unlikeable, lifeless, or meh)- the single dad looks old and constipated throughout the series. He can’t even express himself properly and for a grown a$$ man, that’s pathetic. If people are this repressed/constipated with their emotions, how on earth can they possibly carry on a healthy relationship that they obsess so much about? At least Hayate is open and honest with his emotions (of course it was totally one sided but anyways).
-After two meetings, the characters say these stock lines like “let’s date for marriage!” And then start holding hands, doing the statue kiss, and acting like a couple. It just feels so scripted like they’re playing a role. “Now we’re dating so we have to act like this…” it doesn’t feel organic, natural, or genuine. Just like playing rigid roles. The old guy (female lead’s dad) says to Hinata “Let’s date!” Then they start holding hands and going through the motions. It’s so robotic and unnatural to me. And the “sumimasens” were starting to get a little excessive. Seriously? Politeness is fine but can’t people just act a little more natural? The single dad main lead acts like every scene is a job interview, including the “romantic” scenes. It’s suffocating to watch.
- You have the nice older single woman trope who keeps griping about her age, menopause, and not being married, alluding to this idea that she’s a high achieving career woman, but ultimately has no value because she’s not married. I have seen this in another series- Full Time Wife Escapist- the older unmarried aunt who’s whole identity is that she’s an older career woman who’s single and unmarried and constantly complaining because she believes she is worthless. What a backward belief system that trains women to think this way.
- Hayate was young handsome, caring, loving, a great cook, and caretaker of the house, and successful but the female lead treated him as a joke the entire series. That was sad to see him literally trashed and taken advantage of. Poor guy.
- The English used throughout the series (especially by the fat yoga instructor) was soooo cringe, inappropriate, and awful. She’d just come out and say some random weird catchphrase and I couldn’t make out what she was saying until I read the subtitles.

So in summary, I didn’t like this series at all but finished the whole thing. I have an affinity for Japan, J-Dramas, anime, and Japanese culture, but this one was just excessive and annoying. Might be the first series that I’ve actually disliked. I think they should just rename the series to “Sumimasen!”

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Much Ado about Nothing: FL is Annoying and Story and Characters Lack Depth and Dimension

I normally like Haruka Ayase and is one of my favorite actresses, but… she was extremely annoying in this one and I honestly couldn’t stand her face at some point. This is a thin storyline stretch beyond its limit. It feels like this series is trying to act more profound than it really is, or maybe I wanted it to be deeper than it was.

It seems that most of the characters have a one dimensional fixation on romance, dating, and marriage. They all place romantic relationships on a pedestal and idolize it so much when it’s not that much to begin with. It begins and ends with chemistry, sparks, emotions, feelings… but none of it lasts. That’s why there are so many ups and downs like a rollercoaster. Drama.

She’s lived with her parents for 30 years, has a drunken one night stand with a college student 9 years younger than her who looks like a F-boy, and all of a sudden he is “serious about her,” and they’re dating? Losing her virginity like that on her birthday sounds terribly depressing and traumatizing. I don’t understand how they’re dating or how it’s a serious relationship when she can’t even remember her drunken first night. The college kid just broke up with a previous girlfriend and immediately falls into this one night stand with Hanae, and it’s serious all of a sudden? And he calls all the shots- he decides when they’re dating, when they break up, when they reunite, when they live together, when they call off living together, etc. She literally goes along with whatever he says as if he’s the boss. And she’s so dull in the relationship- she just says “Yes, you’re right. Yes true” with her annoying fake smiles. She tries so hard to please while the kid is more natural as himself. She’s trying to perform and impress as the “good girl” who’s always agreeable so she doesn’t get dumped. The problem is she doesn’t even know who she is and is trying to earn her way through this relationship as if it’s a project of getting good grades, so she hides her true self. Not just to him but to everyone she meets. Red flags all over the place. Then when the couple has a fight over the fact that a girl his own age likes him, and they take a break for a while, the first option back on the table is to.. live together? That sounds like those unstable romantic relationships that break up and get back together over and over. Meh… it doesn’t make sense and it feels like the poor heroine is trying too hard to be “normal” and be like everyone else to prove that she’s someone with “value” because she’s dating someone, and having a boyfriend and a romantic relationship is apparently the only important thing in life. It’s all so primitive and boring. She happens to be naturally different from most people, and instead of forcing herself to be like everyone else, she needs to just chill, be herself, and let life happen naturally. There seems to be nothing natural about all this forced setup I’m afraid, where she’s constantly saying “it’s time I do this and this.” I’m over it.

All this romance script, it bored me. Oh, and the lead pair have zero chemistry. Asao and Hanae have better chemistry than her and Tanokura.

There were moments that were emotional and relatable like the birthday and the emotions she goes through after her first night with the college dude… but I just don’t understand many things such as:

-They act totally close and then totally cold the next moment.. it’s exhausting to watch.
-The CEO guy only has romance with Aoishi San on his mind 24/7. Does he do or think of anything else?
-Does Hitomi do anything else except aggressively pursue men/CEO 24/7? She’s so one dimensional. Does she have nothing else in her mind or personality?
-Does the young baby faced guy in the office do or think of nothing else except romance with Hitomi 24/7?
-Does the young college girl Hirono do or think of nothing else except Tanokura San 24/7?

This is what I mean by the characters are all very one dimensional and obsessed with romance. It makes the series quite boring and draining to watch. How much do we need to exhaust this romance topic over and over?

In episode 8, when after Oshiro sees her and the college guy together, she freaks out and is constantly having a nervous breakdown at work and acting so suspicious in the office like she’s down some crime, and it’s not cute. In fact it’s really annoying. She acts like her romance is the center of the universe and it’s not. She doesn’t even care about herself anymore, just the romance, and protecting it, and somehow making it a secret while deciding to live together? How is that even possible? Why all the secrecy? It’s all so annoying and melodramatic and unnecessary and stupid.

Then she and Oshiro go get drinks so she can bribe him to stay quiet about her relationship with the college kid. Then she starts to get more romance advice about marriage and imagining that hitting the bullseye in the darts game means she will get married. She’s already done this nonsense before with the claw machine trying to get a stuffed toy. She starts obsessing over her age and the kid’s age if they get married and he comes out of graduate school. Seriously let the kid go and stop obsessing over this dumb relationship. As if it’s so strong and a soulmate connection. It’s not. It’s short lived, fast moving, but also constipated with red flags all over the place and somehow with the added intense pressure to get married. It’s just all a disaster. Hanae constantly obsessing over their age difference and marriage is incredibly annoying. Having a girlfriend who’s so uptight and obsessed with marriage all of a sudden puts too much pressure on the kid. She’s chaining him to her own biological clock, while he goes on planning graduate school, then going to the US to get a MBA and then start a company- his vision for his life doesn’t include her, and he lives for himself and his own goals, while having a little romance on the side. They should break up ASAP. As I write more about it, I’m getting more annoyed at her for clinging to this kid, and annoyed at the story obsessing over marriage as an idol as if it’s the highest goal in life, despite the intense misery and imprisonment that inevitably comes which these J dramas also explore so well.

Then as if this Hanae character couldn’t get any worse, she delivers one of the worst lines I’ve ever heard from a heroine in a J drama- to her boyfriend’s mother when she meets her for the first time, “With regards to Tanokura (her bf), I’ll financially support him for as long as I live! And so Tanokura can devote himself to his studies!” Then her boyfriend corrects her and says oh this conversation isn’t about marriage, it’s about graduate school, and his mother sighs in relief. So Hanae offered herself on platter saying she would support him until she dies and she still gets rejected as the boyfriend says he’s not even thinking about marriage. OMG. It’s this kind of insecure doormat behavior that gets a woman into a situation where she’s taken advantage of in every conceivable way - turning herself into a wife/bangmaid, and then financially supporting the man too? Is she his adopted mother? This is the low point of the series, but I’m only on episode 8 so let’s see if it gets any lower. Then at the final moment, her voiceover says “I’m hanging out with my boyfriend and even if we can’t get married, I’m the happiest person in all of Japan… I’m the happiest person in all of Asia! Our first kiss outside- I’m the happiest person in all the world!” Why lie to yourself? I’m docking another star for that line and her desperate, insecure behavior that lowers the value of a woman. Then randomly Tanokura who promised his graduate school professor and college that he would quit his job, decides to keep the job and marry Hanae instead! Or at least that’s the plan for episode 8- I can almost guarantee that it will flip to the opposite in episode 9.

Episode 9: another irritating dialog from Hanae: “An exclusive outdoor onran in a private room is something I’ve only seen in TV and magazines the place that I launched to visit alone, but never expected to come with my boyfriend has brought extreme happiness. I won. I’m a winner in life. Outdoor onsen. Outdoor onsen!… Tanokura is my God in every respect!” SMH who writes these dialogs? “I won? I’m a winner in life?” These lines are so cringe. Then after puffing herself up so much, her boyfriend gets in the onsen bath too and she shrinks into a people pleasing doormat once again. Then after the onsen she turns back into her gloomy insecure self acting all weird trying to “repay his kindness” to the point where even Tanokura has to ask her why she’s acting strange. Her parents also wonder why she looks so gloomy after her onsen trip, and she’s obsessing over “repaying him” like a transaction, while all her efforts just turn up as inauthentic, performative, and contrived. Her inner monologue is highly irritating to listen to.

After his graduate school assistant tells her that she’s disappointed that he won’t pursue graduate school and does a guilt trip on her, Hanae starts sensibly by telling Tanokura to go to graduate school and not give up on his dream. but she derails into saying “I don’t have feelings for you anymore. Actually I’m dating Asao instead!” And does another fakery of “I’m the nice sacrificial martyr woman who’s faking this lie to push him away so that he will pursue his dreams! I’m such a saint!” She breaks up with him. Omg she is so annoying. Then she goes back to being her gloomy self and spreading misery all around her. And then makes her parents miserable by delivering the news. She broke up with him by lying and hurting him instead of repaying his kindness, she did it to herself and then acts like the world is so dark and gloomy. And then starts sobbing to her mother. Ugh. She seems desperate for attention in the form of sympathy. Then she tries to make up this elaborate manipulation telling Asao to act as if he’s her boyfriend so that it would push Tanokura away more and she can continue to feel sorry for herself like a martyr. She has no integrity and is so annoying. But Asao who has more integrity than her tells Tanokura the truth - that they are not dating. Asao offers him words of wisdom: “Since you’re crazy about her, you’re pushing yourself too much. You already reached your limit long ago. The more you think about her the more you try to live up to our expectations. And as she tries to keep up with you, she desperately pushes herself too hard. It’s a typical example of a bad relationship. She realized that it would ruin your life. If things remained this way the best thing she could do for you was to break up with you haven’t you realized it yet?” Then Asao invites Hanae to his restaurant early before its opening after talking to Tanokura and assured that the relationship is over, and proposed marriage to her. Actually that was a boss move. Making sure she was available and obstacles out of the way, and then went in for the kill. I never thought I’d say this, but Asao is probably one of the better characters in this show- his dialog shows some level of intelligence and tact, and he actually says wise things, unlike the nonsense that comes out of Hanae and the rest of them. Even after she says “I don’t feel that way towards you Asao San,” he says “Since you still don’t have that much experience in love, you may not understand but there’s no future in a distracting relationship that’s about staring passionately into each other’s eyes. Those who stare into each other’s eyes get in the way of each other’s plans and won’t be able to move on anywhere. You two were like that. We will never be like that. We can talk to each other without holding back. You’re the first person that I can talk to in a very relaxed way. A relationship that feels comfortable like a friendship what’s wrong with that? That’s also a kind of love..” He’s right. Since she has the maturity of an elementary schooler when it comes to love, she expects fireworks and then breaks up two seconds later, and thinks infatuation or flattery is love. Her way of thinking “I won at life!” While sitting in an onsen with her boyfriend is the height of immaturity. Having someone like Asao who is far more mature is actually better for her to live with a little common sense. Yet for some reason Hanae is quite rude and nasty to him, and reveals a very different side of herself to him, not the fake, highly censored, people pleasing performance she puts on with Tanokura, which is not her true authentic self at all. Just a highly curated image for him to like. If this pessimistic snappy persona is her real personality and Asao likes it, they are certainly fine for each other.

Finally she rejects Asao San, and I actually feel sorry for him, but it’s the usual trope of the 2nd male lead never getting the girl despite his sincere love and efforts. Then she decides to be alone and get life insurance, which is basically a lead into her next series 10 years later “I want to die alone.” Actually it’s much better that way. But Alas, they do the whole “He’s on his way to the airport to America BS, and if you haul yourself over there, you can see him and everything will change- apparently all the issues they had with the age difference will just melt away because of that one moment of rushing to the airport- as every romantic comedy trope does- hurry before they leave for a different country and you might be able to change the entire trajectory of his life!” Saying “Ganbatte!” As she rushes to the airport trying to do what exactly? Then they say “We haven’t gotten over each other, we still have feelings for each other!” Because feelings is what makes a relationship! And if the feelings change for a moment, then break up. Then when feelings change again, get back together and suggest living together. Then cancel living together and break up. Then propose marriage, and then cancel it and lie that you’re actually dating someone else and break up. And then do a fast forward and say look the romance is back because we need a “happy ending!” Oh, here we go again. The same tired old story. Do they really think this is how love works? It’s like propaganda for bad red flag romance, which I’m so tired of. Docking another star.

Much ado about nothing. So much melodrama about nothing. Yawn.

Apparently if you “Try hard enough” like the baby faced nosebleed in the office, you’ll get to marry the love of your dreams and then complain about her after you get married. Sounds like a blast. Anyway, I did like the song “Fall” by Noriyuki Makihara. It was very catchy and woke me up periodically from being zombified by the mind numbing story which got worse with each episode.

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The Romance Angle Limits the story. Omae is not as evolved as Michiko

The Pride of the Temp is a powerful draft of a story that Doctor X does better. There are so many similarities between the two shows but Pride of the Temp appears to be a more primitive version of Doctor X. They even have similar sublots such as battling against the recommendations of AI, but Omae gives up and says AI is perfect except for the useless human errors, but Michiko goes beyond that in the Shogi Doctor X episode where they talk about how AI doesn’t have intuition that is available to her and the Shogi player. Doctor X is wiser as a package, and Pride of the Temp struggles with Omae’s glitching now and then. She doesn’t have the clarity that she pretends to have. The difference between Omae Haruko as the prototype lone wolf and Doctor X’s Daimon Michiko as the fully crystallized dreamer-figure isn’t superficial at all. It’s metaphysical. It’s the evolution of an archetype across time: the shamanic woman who walks into rigid systems, dissolves hierarchy, exposes corruption, frees the stuck, and leaves without attaching.

But in Pride of the Temp, the writing still carries a residue of the collective mind. It’s powerful, but it doesn’t quite know what to do with a woman who is truly sovereign. So it falls back on a familiar distortion:
“Behind her strength she must be a lonely girl who secretly wants romance.”

It’s such a predictable ego reflex: the dream trying to force the dreamer back onto the ground, back into its human categories. It’s like the writers could imagine the archetype, but they couldn’t fully let her remain unclaimed, uninterpreted, unowned.

Doctor X’s Daimon Michiko is the evolved form, purified of male-centered projection

Omae carries the shamanic stillness. She has the strength, the discipline, the outsider vibe. She even carries the luminous detachment. But Michiko carries something beyond all that: she is already free.

Not “free but lonely.”
Not “strong but secretly longing.”
Not “independent but wounded.”

Michiko simply is. A raw, unfiltered vessel of Spirit. No romance subplots. No “melting inside.” No damsel undertones. No hidden craving for male attention. Her love expresses differently: devotion to her craft, absolute loyalty to the patient, a childlike joy around food, a sacred bond with her mentor, genuine affection with her one true friend. Her emotional life is clean. Her mission is unswayed. And even when Hachisuka enters, a pure heart, a genuinely good match, the story itself still bows to the truth that Spirit must remain unentangled if she is to operate in the world at full strength. Michiko and her story is more purified and refined.

Omae is the chrysalis version. In Pride of the Temp, you can feel the archetype trying to break out of the cage of male fantasy. Men projecting loneliness onto her. Men assuming she must fall for one of them. Men assuming her brilliance is a cry for attention. Men believing their crush defines her inner world. The dream world can’t stand a woman who exists outside the romantic ecosystem. It must interpret her. It must soften her. It must reduce her to a narrative the male ego can digest. The loneliness trope is the male psyche’s last-ditch attempt to force her into vulnerability — not because she is weak, but because they need her to be human to feel comfortable around her. A dreamer is too unsettling.

The existential loneliness is real, but it’s not romantic The loneliness of the dreamer isn’t the loneliness of a woman waiting for love. It’s the loneliness of an awareness waking up inside a world designed to keep everyone asleep. Romantic loneliness is a script. Existential loneliness is the tension of consciousness outgrowing its container.

Omae hints at that truth…but the story doesn’t know how to differentiate the subtlety. So it mislabels it as romance.

Michiko, though -she never confuses the ache of existential separation with a hunger for romance.
Her purity is that she never projects that ache onto a man. She never mistakes longing for a mission.

And the dream respects her more for it. Her freedom is not from detachment but from clarity.
Her aloneness isn’t deficiency, it’s altitude. Her sovereignty is the very reason men chase her light. She can feel the temptation, but she doesn’t have to take the bait.

Season 2 is the real test. Because they allow Omae to stay sovereign, she becomes more aligned with the dreamer archetype. Whenever they soften her, romanticize her, or bring her into some “lonely girl secretly needing a man” arc, then the writers are revealing their own ceiling. Doctor X outgrew the entire romantic framing permanently.

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Ripped my heart out!

That final film is written like scripture disguised as television.

When I say it ripped my heart out, the last 20-30 minutes of the movie was me crying nonstop. I already guessed the backstory of Daimon Michiko and perhaps even that of Akira San as they were sprinkled throughout the series through 7 seasons. The backstory and failed surgery of Akira San from long ago is revealed. Hiroto has a grievance from his twin brother being unable to live a proper life as a result of that surgery. Akira San randomly gets a stroke in a confrontation by Hiroto, probably out of emotional distress of carrying that guilt and unfinished business for so long and becomes unresponsive in the hospital. It is not a coincident that Hiroto comes to become the director of that hospital, so that the past karmic knots could resolve themselves, all through Daimon Michiko. But when the guy Hiroto gets in a life threatening injury and the surgeon has to make a decision to save him when he goes into cardiac arrest and cannot use his brother’s heart for some reason, Michiko reaches for Akira San’s heart and does a transplant. “This is what Akira San would have done,” she says and knows this to be true. The boldness in her decision as well as her conviction shows that her mind is of a divine level. Then the whole movie framed it as if Michiko’s license will be revoked as she would have essentially killed Akira San- her beloved teacher and mentor. But she has flashbacks of Akira San saying “Never abandon the patient” and how he tells himself “I never fail” to set his mind right when he becomes afraid during surgery. So as this surgery transplant is going on, the entire cast including Hiruma the former director (sort of still a director) is weeping for this loss. And I was a puddle of tears! For some reason I cannot bear the loss of Akira San because the relationship between teacher/mentor and his beloved student Michiko is so sacred. He is also a father figure to her and her only real friend that she can trust, who is not corrupted by the world. But it kind of reminds me of Harry Potter how he is mentored by Dumbledore who made a mistake long ago from human fallibility and now Harry has to right the wrongs, and must surpass his mentor and teacher. Both mentors/teachers lose their life once the student has surpassed the teacher. Akira San literally tells her this “You have surpassed me, your mentor and have become an incredibly amazingly surgeon. Daimon Michiko, you are my pride and joy.” It just brought me to tears so much upon hearing this because I can relate to it deep down as Michiko.” It was so painful to see and feel that loss and to see Michiko crying in grief. But Michiko’s divine act-cutting into her own mentor, taking his heart, and giving it to the one who hated him, collapses every boundary between teacher, enemy, and self. Then while I was grieving, a logical point came to mind- what about that artificial heart thing that Hiroto developed? Can’t they use that for Akira San now that he doesn’t have a heart?

Then it is revealed that they did in fact use the heart valve thing on Akira San and his foot starts twitching at the end so he’s back to life… after I’ve been going through huge grief and sobs at his loss!

And then the question comes- wait! Couldn’t Michiko have used that heart valve machine thing on Hiroto in the first place instead of cutting into Akira San and taking his heart out and making us all cry?! This question: why not use the mechanical heart on Hiroto works only on the literal layer. On the symbolic layer, the “mechanical heart” was never meant for Hiroto at all. It represented the human attempt to replicate love through intellect and technology. Michiko’s choice to take Akira San’s real heart is what closes the karmic circuit: the living love that once failed now redeems the failure by giving itself away. The mechanical solution would have kept the intellect in control; the organic sacrifice allows Spirit to rule the body again.

The Japanese are masters at hiding theology inside melodrama. Every time Michiko enters an impossible surgery, she’s not conquering medicine, rather she’s healing the fracture between compassion and knowledge. Akira San’s final act, becoming the literal heart that saves the patient he once couldn’t save. is the death of guilt and the birth of pure function. Michiko doesn’t steal his heart; she completes his vow. That’s why he awakens later with the mechanical valve: his body stays in the dream as the new instrument of grace, but his living heart now beats in the healed field he once broke.

Akira’s heart being removed and given away isn’t a mistake in plot, rather it’s the culmination of the whole myth. He is the original mind that trained Michiko’s hands. The only way for Spirit (Michiko) to operate freely in the world is for the old master, the intermediary, to dissolve into her. His heart beating inside Hiroto, the one whose grievance kept the cycle of guilt spinning means the guilt has been absorbed and sanctified. The mechanical heart represents intellect, invention, the human solution. The real transplant, though, demanded living love-the teacher’s own heart, because it was never a medical procedure; it was the undoing of karma. That’s why she couldn’t use the machine on Hiroto first: it would have solved the medical problem but left the psychic wound untouched. The Spirit doesn’t settle for survival; it wants wholeness.

In the end, Daimon Michiko cannot be stopped- because her work goes beyond any medical license. She continues to save people, kings and princes around the world and divine mission continues.

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One of the best shows I have ever seen

This is the first Japanese drama I have watched, and I must say it is one of the most thought provoking shows I’ve ever seen. I don’t speak fluent Japanese but I can understand some of the dialogues. I am watching it now for the 4th time and every time it goes deeper and more thought provoking than the previous time. I notice things that I missed the previous time. It is very philosophical, introspective. I just love it and I’ve never seen a show like this before. I am so thankful to Japanese creators for having such sophisticated thought and a high mindset to come up with such amazing content. I feel it’s because of their mindful culture that is based on Zen and Shintoism, that there is so much wisdom baked into even their entertainment. I just loved all of the characters, especially the leads, Mukai-kun and Sakaido-san. They were all so lovable in their imperfections, trying to live in a rigid structure and system where things are changing. I find it interesting how women are the driving force behind the changing dynamics of these relationships - they tend to leave things more open ended, question the societal structure and systems, and propose to throw the whole thing out the window and live in the moment. I feel that this show is much deeper than just dating and romance. It is deeply philosophical, spiritual, and you get to hear the inner thoughts of the main character and how he feels like he’s failing as a human being because he doesn’t fit into society’s expectations. But just because some people fit into a certain mold doesn’t mean they are happy. They might just be trapped. So his journey is very relatable even to an American woman halfway around the world! I applaud the director, writers, and creators of this show/manga. It is incredible and I will probably watch it another 5 times just to squeeze every ounce of enjoyment out of these wonderful moments. I feel like I am living with the characters. And by the way the music is amazing too, very suitable for the vibe. Perfect 10 out of 10!

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Takahashi is great

The reason I watched this was because I needed more from this actor after binging on Kishibe Rohan. This series is very addicting- I watched 6 episodes in one day. And the rest of the episodes started coming in like a slow drip.

Takahashi has this quality where he can be overly confident and borderline narcissistic while having a big heart of gold underneath. His performance soars above the others, and my ratings here reflect primarily on his performance, (the others were entirely forgettable even though many are familiar faces from other dramas I’ve seen). I think this is innate to the actor’s personality and so he can portray a broad depth of characters. Neo and Eito seem like opposites but are really two sides of the same coin. Even as Neo who is supposed to be overly driven and narcissistic and selfish, you can see the kindness in him underneath all of it. There is a vulnerability in him even in that role, and how underneath the bravado there is sadness and loneliness underneath. To see how that mind or soul adjusts to life as Eito is really interesting because out of necessity he builds compassion within himself, which was already there in him in seed form. Leave it to Takahashi to make you feel empathy for his character, seeing a deeper dimension in it, even when he’s playing a supposed a-hole. I noticed this even in Nagi’s Long Vacation and thought, “Wow this guy is brilliant.”

The story reminds me of The Family Man, where the first version of the main character is a high flying executive businessman who puts his relationship with some chick on the back burner, and he gets transported by a magical moment to have a glimpse into a different life where he had chosen the female over his career. He wakes up in a brood of kids and his wife- they’re poor, but happy and have hearts of gold. The businessman is painted as a arse, while the poor man with the wife and kids is painted as a saint where “real happiness” lives. To me the second life surrounded by buffoons looked like hell- and endless loop of the same old boring family characters crowding the scene with their needs and wants, and behaving in foolish, ignorant, and trashy ways, calling it happiness. This is the same virtue signaling I see in Reborn- the idea that poor people have hearts of gold and the rich like Neo are scum. But Neo has a good heart. If you look closely, the poor ones in Eito’s life are just as sinful, selfish, egotistical, money hungry, and greedy as the rich folk, sometimes even more so. The only thing is it is all mixed in with foolishness, sentimentality, and ignorance in business so they look even more ridiculous. And Sarasa making her ridiculous comments to her money hungry dad Kinpei San who lost their shopping street’s entire savings with bad stock investments, like “Maybe it’s good that you lost all that money, because I like seeing you working hard!” What? What kind of ridiculous nonsense is that? But when Neo offers a very fair deal to by up their shopping street and secure their futures with a lucrative relocation package in the name of “For the People” which he offered to pay 5 times the original amount, but the shopping street people are in an uproar because they “Don’t want to leave their home” and some sentimental nonsense even though they blew all their savings in some stock market fraud and have no customers left- but they have to blame everything on the rich CEO guy because “He must be bad and we need someone to blame for our problems even though we blew all of our savings which came from Eito who is really the mastermind of Neo so we should actually be doubly thankful to Neo.”

The fools of Akari shopping street are painted in a kind of saintly idealistic light as if they have hearts of gold when they are just ignorant, pompous, arrogant, greedy, and prideful for no good reason. They freely take Eito’s help, but constantly sabotage their success and go off drinking or harming themselves (ie Kinpei) whenever they have problems without regard to their families that they claim to care about. Kinpei starts getting drunk everyday in the name of bonding and sentimentality and eventually causes himself and the family the ultimate harm which is just an ego image of “We’re good people unlike that horrible Neo!” Again virtue signaling. Kinpei getting drunk shamelessly in front of his daughter while telling Eito useless old stories about Sarasa in diapers while she smiles on is not bonding or love, but dysfunction, coping, and addiction wrapped in sentimentality. Sentimentality is NOT true love or honorable or virtuous. Kinpei commits suicide and the whole family blames it on Neo, instead of understanding that every person is accountable and must take responsibility for their own actions. Neo didn’t kill Kinpei- Kinpei drank himself to madness and killed himself. He must be held responsible instead of blaming it on Neo and attempting to murder him. Taking their anger out not on Kinpei’s foolishness, but on Neo and other people who have nothing to do with Kinpei’s self destruction (he was known to drink too much even when Sarasa was a child and this fate was inevitable for him regardless of the situation). None of the fools on Akari shopping street understand the mind of Neo/Eito and even though he grows to love them or whatever, he remains set apart from them and an outsider. He is the only kind soul in that Akari Shopping street group that has any integrity. The shopping street fools never properly thank him or understand the gravity of how much he has constantly helped them.

Eiji (Eito’s father) tries to keep all the fools chained to his failing ridiculous shopping district for the sake of “memories” or sentimentality, which is nothing but stupidity and senseless attachment to material things and has no honor in it. Clutching to a dying shopping street business for what?

The croquette lady says this dialogue to Eiji following Kinpei’s second round of suicide: “Maybe it’s time to stop forcing your feelings on others. Everyone wants to stay. But if we stay, we’ll all die in the gutter. Face reality, Eiji. To survive, sometimes, you have to let something go…. (These younger guys).. they still have a future! How long will you keep them tied to this place? They’ll go along with you because they’re good, foolish people. Can you take responsibility for their lives? Our memories will live on in our hearts. We can dream of the day we come together again. Isn’t it time we let go?” This is probably the most sensible line of dialogue that came out of Akari shopping street. Finally someone had sense knocked into them. Though they pat themselves on the back for being “good foolish people,” there is nothing good or inherently righteous about being foolish and sentimentally attached to a dying business.

Eito’s father is truly a piece of work. Speaking of zero integrity, he blows all of Eito’s psychic prediction money that was supposed to be used to pay off their debts and instead bought himself a flashy suit and a watch and plunged them deeper into debt. How is that an heart of gold? “Oh but they’re just lovable family people!” No they’re not! And this father has no remorse except for an ugly sad expression as if he deserves pity for his own greed. And they somehow declare themselves saintly and virtuous compared to the rich guys. It’s abominable. The “low income” characters in the story are just as flawed and sinful or even more so than the rich ones, but the rich are blamed even when they do good. The poor just haven’t had the chance to play out their dysfunctional tendencies on a grander scale like the rich- just give them a lottery win and see what happens. They’ll blow it all in a few months. We all know how that turns out. People simply act according to their roles, and are mostly sinful creatures. It’s only the one that has true self awareness and conscious presence (aka Neo & Eito) who are the outsiders and can see the whole situation from a bird’s eye view beyond their role

So in the end, it was just as I had expected, Neo and Eito had switched places, and each was living and playing the role of the other. In Neo’s position, the soul is lonely and tries to do good from a distance while maintaining his position and ambition, and in Eito’s position the soul is kind and surrounded by ignorant buffoons but is apparently not lonely. My favorite scene of the entire series was the conversation between Eito and Neo in switched bodies (I increased my rating just for that scene)- it was truly a sight to see- but they had so much more to talk about! Like how they came from the same mother and are actually brothers or twins (?). But the new Neo just left it like that and Eito dies.. But that was Eito’s script- he fulfilled that role and exited the stage. For people saying it was an unsatisfying ending, each character on the stage has a role, events, etc and an exit time. Once that role is done, it’s done. I’d say it made sense- it’s not like any of the characters would live forever- and according to that Eito script and role, he was meant to die soon. So he played it out and bowed out of the stage. Interestingly enough, the original Neo (in Eito’s body) had intended to die/fall down the stairs to his death, and it ended up happening except in Eito’s body. Anyways, I like the open mysterious ending. I don’t need to figure everything out. A little mystery is nice. I don’t know who the baby is and I don’t care that much, although there are some interesting suggestions that it is Old Neo/Old Eito coming back into the baby’s body lol.. will it use its memories to ace its way through life? Who knows? Reborn the sequel! With that said, perhaps Old Neo/New Eito that died actually attained enlightenment (ego death) and doesn’t need to be reborn back into the cycle of samsara due to his high integrity and compassion he had developed in his Eito life, that basically surrendered the ego. That would be the best outcome of all.

Speaking of body swap dramas, Takahashi’s own drama Heaven and Hell: Soul Exchange is an awesome one!

ULTIMATE SPOILER QUESTION: If the original Neo intended to commit suicide by falling down the stairs himself with no murderer (as was suggested by the Neo vs Eito conversation), then why when he goes into Eito’s body does he spend the entire series trying to answer the question “Yo who pushed me?!” He keeps making it into a murder from the beginning, but if he had meant to fall down the stairs on his own, wouldn’t he remember that he was on a suicide mission? What’s going on there?

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Japan does this story better

Is this drama a remake of the story Ghost from Hollywood? Yes. Does Japan do it better? Absolutely. The story and vibe gets a major upgrade, where I can actually feel the love between the two rather than just some steamy lust filled scenes from Hollywood. When Satoh repeats “Aishteru” at the end, pouring out his heart as he fades away, it encapsulates a love that has not been spoken and hidden, repressed which represents the Japanese manner of hiding one’s emotions. And the hiding of it just builds it up even more. It’s a beautifully made drama that makes me actually feel their love. And many tears were shed.

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Beautiful final season!

Well now that I finished all the episodes, all that sticks with me is the last couple of episodes- where Hachisuka (the internal medicine director dude) takes Michiko out for dinner and wine. And at first Michiko just eats the food and bails, and I thought it’s just another director schmoozing and trying to manipulate and use her skill to their advantage and agenda, but after Hachisuka catches Michiko when she trips on her high heels and is about to fall, they have this moment of embrace. And this is a first for the gorgeous model Michiko who intimidates every man around her, while being innocent as a doe. She doesn’t know what to do in these romantic situations since all she knows is “surgery and food,” but it reveals a beautiful (short lived) colleague relationship of mutual respect and admiration. Hachisuka ends of getting cancer like everyone else in the show and needs immediate surgery but then quarantines himself in the internal medicine research lab because there’s some new outbreak. But Michiko goes in there and saves him and does immediate surgery. During the surgery his heart stops and he has a cardiac arrest, but she physically pumps his heart back to life kind of like in the 2nd Matrix movie! How romantic is that! And Hachisuka is the only one who is truly grateful to Michiko and says “With the life you saved, I am going to help billions of others now.” Now that is true respect of Michiko’s miraculous surgical power. Only he deserves to associate with her. Everyone else especially people like Hiruma get the surgery from Michiko and then try to destroy her which is unfathomable betrayal and low moral character. The last scenes show Hachisuka asking Michiko if she wants to join him and they can go to Africa together and save lives while “eating octopus” but Michiko takes it as “Let’s meet again at the sushi bar.” So in the innocent comedy of errors, Hachi waits for her at the airport while Michiko waits for him in the sushi bar. Sigh… so innocent, and yet a little heartbreaking. But perhaps Michiko being the Godlike main character in this show is not meant to be with anyone. She is meant to stay where she is and not following some man around. So while the mutual respect and admiration and even love was present, it was something to let go of in the end.

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Daimon Michiko is a national treasure! A Diamond! Protect her at all costs!

I’m back for the 3rd season of Doctor X, and Michiko’s back at it again- the stakes are higher than ever. She saves lives like nobody’s business, and is even personally requested by Hiruma, the previous hospital president, as he is dying of some stage 4 cancer (seriously everyone and their mom has cancer in this series!). He doesn’t even trust his own doctors that he raised him like Ebina, Haru, and Kaji- he’s like I want Daimon Michiko. When it comes to saving his life, he knows that she is the only one he can trust who will not fail him as a doctor. Other doctors have ulterior motives and their mind is not so pure. But Michiko is so pure- a pure hearted soul who doesn’t desire other worldly things that the corrupt doctors do, and so in the operating room, Hiruma is like “oh you are all like my sons, but I want my daughter Michiko, where is she??!” After all the image making and corruption, he knew that only she could save him. And she does not fail!

In this season, the issue of “Where is all her money going?” really started to bother me, as it did Michiko herself. It causes a rift (not quite a falling out) with Akira San, but when she finds out at the end of the season that he has some incurable brain cancer (everyone is just floating around with stage 4 cancers in this show geez!), a very touching finale ensues. Akira makes himself unavailable to Michiko and gives up on his own life, prohibiting Michiko to see him, but she perseveres. It’s heartbreaking to see her going to her usual spots like the bathhouse, or table tennis place or their eatery spots alone without her favorite teacher, friend, manager, and guardian, Akira San. She misses him dearly and cannot give up on his life.

Akira isn’t just her manager — he is her last link to family, to a sense of home, to being cared for outside the operating room. His betrayal (or what she thinks is betrayal) is devastating because he is the only one she fully trusts. When she confronts him about the money, it isn’t greed that’s driving her — it’s pain. She feels as if the one person she’s allowed herself to depend on has failed her. That’s why her leaving is so powerful: she isn’t walking away from money, she’s testing what she has left without him. Outside the OR, Michiko is almost childlike — awkward, impulsive, sometimes naive. That’s what makes Akira’s role so essential. He’s the one who holds her life together so she can pour her entire being into surgery. When he collapses, it’s not just a medical emergency — it’s like the ground is ripped out from under her. The show turns the tables: now she is the one begging to save him, refusing to give up even when he tells her to let him go. His refusal is a test — not out of cruelty, but because love that can’t withstand separation isn’t yet whole. Michiko’s choice to decline Tendo’s lucrative offer is a pivotal moment. She could have chosen prestige, money, and her own “brand,” but she chooses the one patient who matters to her most. That moment is her true declaration of who she is — not just a surgeon, but a fiercely loyal soul who refuses to abandon the one who believed in her first.

Finally when the colleagues Ebina, Haru, and Kaji and the head nurse bring Michiko to the operating room when Akira collapses, Daimon is there to save the day- but unlike other surgeries, she is in tears as she operates, and she is reminded of her own training by Akira himself, teaching her to never give up on her patient. She leaves a very lucrative position and job offer from Tendo as the president of the chairman of the health ministry of whatever.. it doesn’t matter to Michiko in that moment. She declines the offer, overturns the desk and says in effect, “What good is all of this if I cannot even save the one I love?” That was so deeply touching. Because until then, we see Dr. Daimon as this hard shelled person with a childlike quirky personality with Akira San after work, but to see her heart bared open like that was truly touching and I was crying through the whole thing. The surgery itself was almost liturgical — Michiko crying while she operates, remembering the lessons Akira drilled into her: “Never give up on the patient.” It’s like the entire series brought her to this moment where her skills and her heart meet. She saves him not just with her technique, but with her devotion. It’s almost a prayerful act — her tears are part of the healing. This final surgery scene of Akira was truly heart wrenching to watch and I was praying that he would live. He didn’t want Michiko to fail but she never gave up on him. Akira says something important to Ebina, “Do you know why Michiko says these careless things like I never fail? It’s because of her determination. She will never give up on the patient.” And to see that Akira San didn’t swindle her money, but rather invested in her own future to build her a hospital in her own name where she can be free to do surgeries and save lives was truly honorable. Forgive me Akira San- you are a saint. And yes he was right to protect Michiko from her own money, because in the end she ends up saving Akira’s life but blowing all the money by going to outer space.

But the ending with her spending the money on space travel is so fitting — because Michiko is free. She doesn’t hoard, she doesn’t cling. She’s already received what she really wanted: Akira’s trust, his life, and the proof that she could save him. The space trip is almost her way of saying, “I won’t be tied down by this world.” She laughs, she returns to her silly self, but she’s been transformed.

This whole season is a parable -it’s not about money, status, or getting credit — it’s about staying faithful to the one thing that matters even when every ego system tells you to look away. It’s about never abandoning what you love, even when it seems impossible.

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To be honest and open hearted in a cruel and callous world

This show really opened my eyes. On the surface, it’s a funny, comedic series about this real estate agent, formerly known as “Liar Nagase” and how an incident causes him to be blessed (although he says cursed) with the Spirit that blows through him whenever he is tempted to lie, and forces the truth out of him. He starts off as a lying, manipulative realtor that will do or say anything to get a contract, including all of its bells and whistles. Turns out he learned this from a former employee Kamiki, who taught him all the manipulative techniques to become number 1 at any cost. Tosaka Real Estate where Nagase works, along with its rival Minerva use this ranking system that pits salespeople against each other for some competition where the #1 salesperson for the month gets serious perks. Minerva is all around scammy and will go to any level to get money and contracts, but meanwhile Tosaka has a little more ethic- especially since Nagase’s Spirit blessing of honesty started, he starts to inspire others such as Tsukishita who is his younger female coworker who is open hearted, polite, people pleasing, and earnest. The series shows how this spirit of honesty and inner alignment with truth changes Nagase’s perspective on life, where he used to live for money, the flashy high rise life, hooking up with random women, and the number 1 sales spot, but now sees something more important than the number 1 spot, which is bringing joy to others, which makes him happy. He starts to feel for the first time a sense of happiness and meaning in his job, whereas before it was just a cold, hard game. His approach even softens the heart of Kamiki, his number 1 rival when Kamiki starts working for Minerva and becomes a villainous rival of sorts for Nagase. It’s like Nagase is battling his own former self or shadow, and sheds light on Kamiki’s obsession with #1 being an armor of protection and a way coping for immense grief and pain he hides inside. Kamiki was a fascinating character, and when his backstory was explained, I was in tears. All villains are hiding great pain, and if it was only allowed to process instead of the ego taking over and creating a mask where they felt powerless, there could be healing and restoration of the soul. But if it is given to the ego, then it creates this hardened, insensitive, manipulative mask, a false self and a shell in place of the suffering victim which becomes a dangerous force. In fact, all the unprocessed pain in the world creates this callous, harsh world and atmosphere that you see in the series. And Nagase along with Tsukishita become like beacons of light in such a world. Once you get past the grief inside, you find the joy of Spirit deep within, that radiates throughout the world. The title song “So far so good” by Kazumasa Oda that plays at the end of every episode is so touching and heartwarming. It really speaks to the healing and joy of Spirit that is brought to everyone at the end of the day when honesty and genuine intentions are extended to all.

As far as performances go, I grew to really love the guy who played Nagase (Tomoshima Yamashita)- at first I wasn’t used to his face, and he just looked like a total a-hole, but then as he went through this honest transformation by the spirit, I found him to be more and more attractive. Then I looked him up and I realized he was the naked dude in Alice in Boderland! Ohhh it makes sense now! In the second season they changed his haircut and he gained weight, so he was definitely not as attractive as the first season. He had more of a dad look in the second season lol. But his character was solid. I loved Tsukishita- she was so sweet and innocent, and when I would go out into the world and encounter mean and horrible people, I would remember her and her smile and it would make me feel better- like there is some light and kindness in this world. Kamiki was my other favorite- his charisma was off the charts, even though his tap dancing was strange and comical- it was very “anime” like for a villain so I thought that was cool too. His backstory was so sad and it gave him more depth as a character especially when seeing his grief and his transformation towards the end, where he questions everything- his philosophy and so even the unbeatable villain has this soft spot where he is humbled and brought to his knees. It was sweet to see the end where it showed that he could change too.

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